The High Priestess in 7 decks
The same card as 7 decks draw it, five and a half centuries apart. What stays the same is the card’s core; what changes is where a reading can find something new. The meanings are written for the Rider–Waite–Smith picture; the descriptions here are of each deck’s own.
Side by side
Choose any two decks and read the pictures against each other.
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909
A woman in flowing blue robes sits between a black pillar and a white one, a scroll half hidden in her lap, a crescent moon at her feet and a horned crown with a full moon on her head. Behind her hangs a veil embroidered with pomegranates and palms, and a glimpse of water shows at its edge. She is utterly still and looks straight at you.
Lequart, Paris, 19th century
Numbered II and titled JUNON, a grey-haired woman in a blue and grey dress with a green neckerchief points upward with one hand and down with the other. A striped red, yellow and white scarf billows behind her and a yellow sash crosses her skirts. Two yellow peacocks stand at her feet on red clouds. Unlike the Rider-Waite-Smith card, there is no seated priestess.
Rider–Waite–Smith
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909
A woman in flowing blue robes sits between a black pillar and a white one, a scroll half hidden in her lap, a crescent moon at her feet and a horned crown with a full moon on her head. Behind her hangs a veil embroidered with pomegranates and palms, and a glimpse of water shows at its edge. She is utterly still and looks straight at you.
Tarot de Marseille
Lequart, Paris, 19th century
Numbered II and titled JUNON, a grey-haired woman in a blue and grey dress with a green neckerchief points upward with one hand and down with the other. A striped red, yellow and white scarf billows behind her and a yellow sash crosses her skirts. Two yellow peacocks stand at her feet on red clouds. Unlike the Rider-Waite-Smith card, there is no seated priestess.
Tarot de Viéville
Jacques Viéville, c. 1650
Numbered II, a woman wearing a triple-tiered tiara sits framed by a tall dark hood or veil spread behind her head. She wears a red cloak over a pale gown and holds an open book on her lap with both hands.
Visconti-Sforza
Bonifacio Bembo, c. 1450
A woman in a plain brown habit with a white veil and wimple wears a triple crown. She sits on a throne set on a hexagonal step, holding a tall cross-staff in her right hand and a closed blue book in her gloved left. Behind her is tooled gold with diamond lattice and rosettes; small green bushes show at the sides.
In the Visconti-Sforza deck the number cards show only their suit symbols, and the trumps are unnamed and unnumbered.
Sola Busca
c. 1491
A man stands with his back to us in a green tunic, purple hose and a red cap, holding a short club. His round shield bears a palm tree and the name POSTVMIO. Beside him a skull rests on a brick pillar, a sword in a red scabbard hangs at his hip, and the numeral II is at the right.
Sola Busca trumps are named figures matched to the standard trumps by number only.
Oswald Wirth
Oswald Wirth, 1889
A woman sits enthroned between a red pillar and a dark grey one, a pale veil hanging behind her. She wears a triple crown topped by a crescent, a red mantle over blue, and holds a book on her knee and two crossed keys. A chequered floor shows at the bottom. Below are the number 2, LA PAPESSE and the Hebrew letter beth.
Soimoi
Mike Koz, 2025
A young woman in a white kimono top and red pleated trousers stands in a dim teal room holding a rolled scroll to her chest. A paper lantern glows behind her, a sword rests on a wall rack, and the window grid shows red torii gates over the night city. A crescent moon is reflected in the polished floor beside a small round mirror on a stand.